Gaming’s biggest joys—and most bitter disappointments—of 2011

Ars Technica and Wired look back on 2011 and come up with the most …

It's hard to look back on any year of gaming and try to pull out the best and worst games, but that's not going to stop us from trying. Any list of this kind is by definition subjective, but these are the gaming experiences that stuck with the editors of Ars Technica, Wired magazine, and wired.com. They are the ones we think define 2011: the games that stumbled and the ones that soared.

Let us know what you think, what we missed, and what choices make you shake your head in anger. Sure, there were games that let us down, but we'd argue that the important part of the list are the best games. If you haven't ripped into these games yet, it's a good time to start.

Let's start with the negative, and take a look at the most disappointing games of 2011.

9. Dead Island

Square Enix

This game represents a stupendous achievement for Axis Animation. Unfortunately, Axis Animation is the team that made the riveting CG trailer that convinced over a million people to shell out for a buggy, mediocre open-world zombie game made by Techland. Its previous series Call of Juarez was a poor man's Red Dead Redemption, just like Dead Island is a poor man's Dead Rising. The most unforgivable element was the inconsistent combat: I'd swing an axe and bury it in an enemy's chest, and it wouldn't register. Then I'd swing again and miss them by several feet, and its arm would fly off. —Chris Baker

Dead Island

8. Hard Reset

This PC shooter benefited from an innovative PR campaign that showed the game's first image mere weeks before the public was able to play a demo. Based on that, we expected a fun, classical first-person shooter with impressive graphics. It was a fun game with an innovative weapons system, but just as the story and action seemed to be picking up, it all came to a crashing end. More content is coming, and the game remains in active development, so we can only hope something can be salvaged from this interesting failure. —Ben Kuchera

7. Jurassic Park

You might go into Jurassic Park: The Game thinking it's a basic adventure game, something more like the rest of developer Telltale's line-up. You'd be wrong. It's much less. The quintessential example of an interactive movie, Jurassic Park is a mini-series set during and after the events of the first film, but with a few button presses thrown in every now and then to make it feel as if you're doing something. The story is mildly interesting and feels like a step up from the unnecessary third film, but there's simply too little gameplay. —Andrew Webster

6. The Nintendo 3DS launch lineup

Nintendo

Consoles typically launch with one or two great games, a handful of decent B titles and a whole bunch of rushed garbage. Nintendo had the latter two categories sewn up when it launched the Nintendo 3DS in March, but not so much that first one. No Mario, no Zelda, no nothing except for Nintendogs, Steel Diver, and Pilotwings Resort. Throw in the fact that the digital games shop wouldn't be ready for months, and the 3DS launched with a pitiful whimper. Things are better now, at least. —Chris Kohler

5. Assassin's Creed Revelations

Ubisoft

The Assassin's Creed series needs a swift kick in the ass. This year's entry might be loaded up with new features like the ill-received "Den Defense" mode and other such frivolity, but the actual explore-and-assassinate gameplay—you know, the stuff that was so good in the first place?—is thinner here than in the previous two entries. It's time to trim the fat, get back to the fundamentals and create something that's as much of a leap as Assassin's Creed II was over the first game. —Chris Kohler

4. Two Worlds II

SouthPeak Games

After the buggy, disappointing mess that was Two Worlds, things could have only gone uphill for the sequel, right? Not exactly. Two Worlds II was certainly better than its predecessor, but it still felt like a game at odds with its players. With a clunky interface, a predictable storyline and some truly atrocious aesthetics, Two Worlds II often seemed like it was just daring you to stop playing. —Jason Schreier

3. Rage

id Software

There was always hope for Rage. While history has not been kind to Doom 3, we were all hoping that this time, it could pull together something that could reinvent the shooter. What we got was a half-baked game with a nonexistent story and annoying game mechanics that lacked meaning or consequence. The new engine introduced a number of issues to PC gamers, and it required a large installation on the consoles. Rage might have looked good, but it showed none of the grace and flair befitting of a a big-budget release from a boutique studio. —Ben Kuchera

2. Dragon Age II

In 2009, BioWare released the fantasy role-playing game Dragon Age: Origins to critical fanfare, garnering praise for the game's breadth, scope and lore. Fifteen months later came the slapdash Dragon Age II, which gutted many of its predecessor's good qualities. Instead of adventuring through forests and swamps, players spent the whole game fighting through a single city, a city so generic that its districts had names like "Darktown" and "Hightown." For many fans of Dragon Age (or of BioWare's classic fantasy RPG series Baldur's Gate) the sequel was an epic letdown. —Jason Schreier

1. Duke Nukem Forever

Hail to the king, baby! Duke may not be winning any more Vaporware Awards any time soon, but he is the winner of this other dubious accolade. Playing its first few levels, you might think that Duke Nukem Forever would be a funny, risk-taking shooter that made up for its old graphics and thin gameplay with good-natured poop humor. What it actually turned out to be was a technical mess full of never-ending loading screens, bland levels and broken gameplay. We'd love to see a great Duke game someday, but this one wasn't worth the wait. —Chris Kohler

LA Noire *should* be on the disappointments list. Such a wasted opportunity to build a game that would be truly riveting, but the story doesn't hang together at all. Should have been Maltese Falcon, instead it was a forgettable B-movie at best.

bah, it's not - the real #1 game of the year is Serious Sam 3: BFE ... more fun and action than all of the top 20 games put together

Whatever it is, Skyrim is certainly not a deserved #1, maybe in a year or two once modders fix it, but right now... it's OK, but it's probably better to play overahuled Oblivion with one of the "redesign" mods out there, assuming you have not done that yet.

I completely agree...it's not groundbreaking, it's not without its flaws, but I can't remember the last time I've had this much fun with a game.

Also, any list that has Bulletstorm in its top 20 while BF3 is nowhere to be found is one I have a hard time taking seriously. I don't get Ben's crush on Resistance 3 either (his affinity for the setting aside)...it's a solid piece of entertainment, worth the $30 or so it went for on Black Friday, but not a penny more.

Whatever it is, Skyrim is certainly not a deserved #1, maybe in a year or two once modders fix it, but right now... it's OK, but it's probably better to play overahuled Oblivion with one of the "redesign" mods out there, assuming you have not done that yet.

Easy to say that about the PC version, but will we 360 players ever get that kind of stuff? No? Well, then for what it does, it does it VERY well. Latest patch hasn't crashed as much as before. With no console access I can't fix the 'bug' where you can't find the target item before the quest starts, but I'm hoping that doesn't eventually affect an IMPORTANT quest. Very much a Game Of The Year...

The #1 game of the year 2011 was the same as it was in 2010. And 2009. And 2008. And 2007.

Team Fortress 2.

Why?

HATS! THAT'S WHY!!!!

How many hats do you see on this list? NONE! NO HATS! How anyone can take this kind of hatless trash seriously is beyond me!

And don't get me started on gameplay. None of these games comes even close to Team Fortress 2, which allows people the opportunity to see ME in MY MARVELLOUS HAT when I kill them.And that's a proven winning formula for a game.

So, put on your thinking hat and - oh, wait, you can't. Because you've been wasting your time playing HATLESS GARBAGE. Well, anyway, if you had a hat, you could put it on and renumber the list so it has 30 worst games of the year, and then show me your hat.

How Serious Sam 3 is not on the list is beyond me entirely. It's better than most (if not all) those on the list.

I knew Skyrim would win #1 as I started reading the 10 flops, as its just that obvious that the kind of 'bias' of Skyrim has seemingly infected everywhere.

Thats about the only things I disagree with the list. Not seeing BF3 and MW3 on the list doesn't surprise me though. Jetpack Joyride is alright, but I don't think it deserves a place on this list at all. Its hardly the first game to use this mechanic, nor in this way, it just looks quite nice. It by no means 'defines' 2011 in gaming.

A couple of those summaries from Ben were particularly well-written. Not that the others were substandard in any way.

Also: Dammit, I'm trying to hold out on some sort of Skyrim sale. It might be the first tile I break down and buy full-price (or close to it) in ages. I started tinkering with Oblivion for the first time a few weeks ago, and found myself quite enamored. But I've got a real soft spot for Nordic themes, so the temptation of Skyrim is looming large

I admit I started scrolling faster through the games looking for BF3. Once I got to the top ten and still hadn't seen it, I was smiling. Once I got to the bottom of the list and saw no love for the achievement that is BF3 I was dumbfounded.

Now, I appreciate how good Batman and Skyrim are. In fact, even though I haven't played them yet (and Skyrim is outside my particular niche) I would say they deserve the top 5. BF3 should have been up there too.

Yes, I know its another shooter. Yes, it has its flaws. Yes, it is one of the best games of the year, surviving only on its exceptionally good multiplayer.

I was getting ticket about Dragon Age II not being on the disappointment list until I noticed it was a countdown. I kept reading, and sure enough, it ranked pretty high. That was my main disappointment of the year (mostly because I actually liked DNF).

Now that I've posted this, I can go read through the positive list. Honestly, there were so many GOOD games towards the end of this year that I should be held over until next years good games come out.

Jetpack Joyride is fun for what it is (I've got several hours into it), but I don't get the big deal over all the "extra content". It's the same game-nothing changes of any significance, ever. So there are some more outfits-nothing does anything at all-its all generic. If there were at least some reactions (i.e. the rainbow pack leaves the scientists blissed out, or the bubble pack makes them scrub the floor) there would be some entertainment value, but the character is so small that I have a hard time caring what vest he is wearing. It's all new skins, but nothing is meaningful to the game, and once you've played through once there isn't anything to do but playmore to buy pointless stuff. In a way I guess it's the purest form of Diablo...

I seriously disagree with the assessment of Dead Island on all points. I never saw the infamous trailer, but how many games actually deliver what the trailer promises? Melee combat is the best part of Dead Island, next to the gorgeous and detailed environment. I don't know what's inconsistent about it. There were some minor bugs but what are those next to Skyrim's bugs? It doesn't sound like the reviewer gave the game the proper attention. I would say Dead Rising is a poor man's version of Dead Island.

How Serious Sam 3 is not on the list is beyond me entirely. It's better than most (if not all) those on the list.

I knew Skyrim would win #1 as I started reading the 10 flops, as its just that obvious that the kind of 'bias' of Skyrim has seemingly infected everywhere.

Thats about the only things I disagree with the list. Not seeing BF3 and MW3 on the list doesn't surprise me though. Jetpack Joyride is alright, but I don't think it deserves a place on this list at all. Its hardly the first game to use this mechanic, nor in this way, it just looks quite nice. It by no means 'defines' 2011 in gaming.

Serious Sam 3 is a nostalgia trip with some mindless fun. There's just so much more to gaming though than that.

Also it's quite possible that Skyrim is actually a very good game, rather than the entire world having just been manipulated by Bethesda into believing it is when it's really not. I'd suggest playing it, I had no intention to but got sucked in, it's really very good in many ways.

Edit: All nitpicking and personal preference aside, I do like that no one is complaining about Duke Nukem. Kind of a stark difference to the bajillion comments on the original review of the game touting its wonderfulness and claiming the entire world just couldn't take a joke.

The #1 game of the year 2011 was the same as it was in 2010. And 2009. And 2008. And 2007.

Team Fortress 2.

Why?

HATS! THAT'S WHY!!!!

How many hats do you see on this list? NONE! NO HATS! How anyone can take this kind of hatless trash seriously is beyond me!

And don't get me started on gameplay. None of these games comes even close to Team Fortress 2, which allows people the opportunity to see ME in MY MARVELLOUS HAT when I kill them.And that's a proven winning formula for a game.

So, put on your thinking hat and - oh, wait, you can't. Because you've been wasting your time playing HATLESS GARBAGE. Well, anyway, if you had a hat, you could put it on and renumber the list so it has 30 worst games of the year, and then show me your hat.

LA Noire *should* be on the disappointments list. Such a wasted opportunity to build a game that would be truly riveting, but the story doesn't hang together at all. Should have been Maltese Falcon, instead it was a forgettable B-movie at best.

Agreed. Game was a major letdown. Lifelike facial animations can't change the fact that the gameplay was broken/non-existent. This is the 'Games' category right? As a game, LA Noire fails.

How about Gears 3? A solid, satisfying story conclusion to the series (who would have thought), and a whole HOST of MP features, nevermind all the meta gameplay aspects, you have Versus, Horde, Beast Mode, etc. And in a rare instance...they're ALL fun.

May be the top 20 list is about single player games? With the possible exception of Portal 2, every other game seems to be single player.

Which makes me happy, since I am not much in to multiplayer.

Portal 2 was a HUGE amount of fun and a great sequal to one of gaming's greatest games. Jetpack Joyride is the best $1 you can spend (if you have iOS). Keep in mind this is coming from a guy that loves him some MP...

Again, its not that I disagree with all the choices here, but this list is incomplete.

You are way off on L.A. Noire. What you are saying is that in the fullness of time it will be forgotten as a game and remembered as a movie. Because that is what you are praising. There isn't even any meaningful gameplay that allows me to affect the outcome of the story. This is why the wife and I gave up on this game. If we wanted to watch a movie, we would do it in a medium that is designed for it, and not one that is suppsed to take into account the choices we make.

In fact my wife has said that if they were to release a DVD of the movie cut shown at Cannes, then we would pay that. Because that is the proper way to experice that "game".

LA Noire *should* be on the disappointments list. Such a wasted opportunity to build a game that would be truly riveting, but the story doesn't hang together at all. Should have been Maltese Falcon, instead it was a forgettable B-movie at best.

Agreed. Game was a major letdown. Lifelike facial animations can't change the fact that the gameplay was broken/non-existent. This is the 'Games' category right? As a game, LA Noire fails.

How about Gears 3? A solid, satisfying story conclusion to the series (who would have thought), and a whole HOST of MP features, nevermind all the meta gameplay aspects, you have Versus, Horde, Beast Mode, etc. And in a rare instance...they're ALL fun.

Agree. I would plant it firmly in the #1 disappointed spot. I don't have crazy radical views on games but to me it was just really bad in every way except atmosphere. They really nailed the LA Confidential look.

And their opinions are? Nope, none of these opinions are facts, but this list is leaving out a pretty big piece of the gaming "joys" by leaving out BF3.

Looks like I am not the only one that thinks so either, including Ars regulars...

Stating over and over what you feel about BF3 will not magically turn it into a fact.

You have the right to disagree and argue about their exclusion of BF3 in the list, but you have no business demanding them to "fix" it because there is nothing to fix about opinions. This list is just that, opinions.

I was somewhat surprised to see Dragon Age 2 on the disappointments list.

While it did not live up to the potential of the original Dragon Age (which had a much deeper story, more interesting moral choices, and was generally more challenging), I found it a thoroughly enjoyable game that I played through to the end. I preferred many facets of the original to the sequel, but I never felt disappointed by it.

Opinion lists, always a good way to start an argument... err, I mean, a good excuse to throw some opinions out there! And though it was listed, since it was mentioned I just want to say this: I do not see how anyone can tolerate the Dead Rising games. I find them absolutely miserable and clunky to play and I'm surprised that would be a comparison game.

But maybe I'm just different. I've found Skyrim to be just "Okay" so far -- it plays exactly like Fallout 3 with a high fantasy skin. That is by no means a bad thing, but not an exciting thing either. Also, Dark Souls really weakened Skyrim for me. The combat in Dark Souls was so interactive, so fluid -- it really made it stand out how Skyrim's combat was the same clunky PC combat that had been around for at least 10 years. My gaming time has grown more and more limited, and Dark Souls was the only game this year that truly made me MAKE time to play because I was eager to finish it. I think I was immediately disillusioned with Skyrim when the first time I completed a quest, it made the same sound effect as when you completed a quest in Fallout 3.

Here's another bitter disappointment: JRPGs. And not the usual JRPG complaints, but it has made me sad that the only good JRPGs coming out lately are on handhelds. I've wanted to play a good JRPG for quite awhile now, but I just cannot bring myself to use my limited gaming time at home to play on a handheld system.

The #1 game of the year 2011 was the same as it was in 2010. And 2009. And 2008. And 2007.

Team Fortress 2.

Why?

HATS! THAT'S WHY!!!!

How many hats do you see on this list? NONE! NO HATS! How anyone can take this kind of hatless trash seriously is beyond me!

And don't get me started on gameplay. None of these games comes even close to Team Fortress 2, which allows people the opportunity to see ME in MY MARVELLOUS HAT when I kill them.And that's a proven winning formula for a game.

So, put on your thinking hat and - oh, wait, you can't. Because you've been wasting your time playing HATLESS GARBAGE. Well, anyway, if you had a hat, you could put it on and renumber the list so it has 30 worst games of the year, and then show me your hat.

How Serious Sam 3 is not on the list is beyond me entirely. It's better than most (if not all) those on the list.

I knew Skyrim would win #1 as I started reading the 10 flops, as its just that obvious that the kind of 'bias' of Skyrim has seemingly infected everywhere.

Thats about the only things I disagree with the list. Not seeing BF3 and MW3 on the list doesn't surprise me though. Jetpack Joyride is alright, but I don't think it deserves a place on this list at all. Its hardly the first game to use this mechanic, nor in this way, it just looks quite nice. It by no means 'defines' 2011 in gaming.

Serious Sam 3 is a nostalgia trip with some mindless fun. There's just so much more to gaming though than that.

Also it's quite possible that Skyrim is actually a very good game, rather than the entire world having just been manipulated by Bethesda into believing it is when it's really not. I'd suggest playing it, I had no intention to but got sucked in, it's really very good in many ways.

I have played Skyrim, and while I do not own it I have sunk a fair few hours into it. It just didn't click with me. It just seems like Oblivion, albeit flashier in basically every way. They ballsed up the inventory amongst other things (things that were absolutely fine in Oblivion and previous.). Sure, theres an unholy amount of stuff to do, I just found it rather boring...(Not to mention bugs, but then again bugs get reported far more often when a game is popular.)